You’re at the beach, lounging on your towel, when a glistening object at the water’s edge catches your eye. It’s a bottle — and yes, it contains a message. What does it say?

It’s still early. No one else is at the beach yet. Jet-lag is a pain, but at least the quiet is nice before everyone else comes down to the beach. The ocean is beautiful. So blue and shiny? What’s that?

I get off my towel and head down to the ocean where the tide is pushing something shiny onto the shore. Is that a bottle? Who threw rubbish here? I sigh and pick up the bottle.

Wait… this isn’t trash, there’s a note inside. I wonder what it says? I look around but the beach is still deserted. I pull the cork out of the bottle and carefully pull the paper out. It looks very old and there’s some damage were water must have leaked in.

I unfold the paper and begin to read.

My dearest Emily,

As I write this letter to you now my heart is filled with sorrow. Our ship has begun to sink and I only have moments left before it is claimed by the sea. I want you to know that my happiest memories are all of you and of the time we shared. I’m sorry that I will never get to meet our child. If only i had stayed home like you asked instead of taking one last trip.

I promised we would be together forever, but I have broken that promise. I hope you can forgive me. I love you with all my heart and soul.

Yours forever,

Edward

My eyes overflowed with tears and I sank to my knees on the warm morning sand. I heard the voices of the first group of people heading down the to beach. I quickly put the note back inside the bottle and seal it tight. I throw it back into the ocean and hope that the message carries to Emily and that her and Edward can one day be reunited.

My gran was an amazing person. Not a day goes by when I don’t miss her. She was a strong an independent woman, well into her eighties. She was still responsible for making Christmas dinner right up until she passed. She had an amazing social life, better than mine when I was in college! She believed in manners and respect, something that a lot of people are lacking these days.

She was also an expert at Wii bowling! Put the rest of family to shame! A wonderful woman, who was taken, long before her time.

This post is a little more sad than my others, but unfortunately one of my kittens passed away just under 48 hours ago. She was almost 6 months old, I’ve had her for almost 3 months now. For a couple of days she was more sleepy than normal, but she was always quite lazy, especially compared to my 4 month old kitten who is just a ball of energy.

She didn’t like her tail being touched then on Monday while I was at work and my boyfriend was in the shower, she broke her leg. I don’t know if the kittens had been fighting or if she fell off the table but her leg was badly broken. My boyfriend called me and I quickly came home and she was lying on the living room floor not moving.

I can’t describe the feeling of seeing her lying there, for a moment I wasn’t sure she was still alive. We quickly took her to a nearby vet who done his best to care for her. After a couple of hours in the vet, we were allowed to bring her home. The vet said that there was a chance that she may have internal bleeding.

The cage we took her in was a little too small so we made her a bed from spare blankets and set her up in the living room where we could keep an eye on her. For the rest of the afternoon she was basically unconscious. We went to bed early that night, we took the make-shift bed into our bedroom,hoping she would be ok.

At around midnight, I woke up at the sound of the most heart-wrenching meow I’ve ever heard. My kitten, Yuki had woken up and was obviously in pain. We rushed to her side but there was nothing we could do. Right before my eyes, as I held her small body, I felt her breath slow and stop, and her heartbeat slow and stop.

I’ve never experienced anything quite like this before and it was one of the most painful things I’ve ever experienced. Since it happened all I can hear is her final meow and I keep getting flashbacks to her last few minutes. For people who haven’t had pets, I can imagine that my feeling over heartbreak for a cat might not make sense, but for people who have pets, I’m sure you can understand that feeling of loss.

I’m so sad that she passed but, if it was her time, I’m glad she was at home where she was loved and not alone in the vets. I miss you Yuki, gone but never forgotten. I hope all your pain is gone.